AI 1996 Annual Report - Sri Lanka entry

Amnesty International has released its 1996 Annual Report. It
covers the period of January to December 1995 and contains entries
on 146 countries and territories. The entry on Sri Lanka follows
below. The first paragraph is a summary of the entry. Those
wishing to obtain a copy of the entire report should contact the
Amnesty International section in their country; in the U.S., please
contact: AIUSA, 322 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10001; Attention:
Publications.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL 1996 ANNUAL REPORT - SRI LANKA ENTRY

Thousands of Tamil people, including hundreds of prisoners of
conscience, were arrested, particularly in the latter part of the
year. Hundreds were detained without charge or trial for periods
ranging from 24 hours to several months. There were reports of
torture and ill-treatment, particularly of prisoners held in
military custody. Several people died in custody as a result of
torture. At least 55 people were reported to have "disappeared"
and more than 40 others to have been extrajudicially executed. An
armed opposition group was responsible for numerous human rights
abuses, including deliberate and arbitrary killings of Sinhalese
civilians.

Meetings between representatives of the government and the
armed opposition Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which had
been suspended (see Amnesty International Report 1995), resumed
early in the year. A cessation of hostilities agreement came into
force on 8 January. On 18 April, however, the LTTE called an end
to the truce. In the following months, fighting between the
security forces and the LTTE intensified in the east. Between July
and November, the security forces undertook large-scale operations
in the Jaffna peninsula, the LTTE stronghold in the north. They
took control of Jaffna town in December. At the end of the year,
the security forces retained control of approximately half of the
Jaffna peninsula and towns and main roads in the east while the
LTTE controlled Mullaitivu and Killinochchi districts in the north
and large parts of the countryside in the east.

The state of emergency remained in force in the northeast of
the country, parts of Puttalam, Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa
districts and in the capital, Colombo, and surrounding areas. It
was extended to all parts of Gampaha district in June and to parts
of Moneragala district in December.

Throughout the second half of the year, access to the Jaffna
peninsula was severely restricted. As a result, independent
information about alleged human rights abuses was limited. There
were a number of reports of killings of civilians during
indiscriminate bombing and shelling by the security forces in the
Jaffna peninsula, but the reports were difficult to verify owing to
restrictions on access.

In mid-June, the government took several initiatives
apparently designed to strengthen human rights protection. It
issued emergency regulations to re-establish the powers of the
Human Rights Task Force (HRTF), a body set up in 1991 to monitor
the welfare of detainees. The HRTF's status had become unclear
after earlier regulations lapsed in 1994 (see Amnesty International
Report 1995). The government also issued directives to the heads
of the security forces, aimed at protecting the fundamental rights
of people arrested and detained. Security forces were directed to
issue "arrest receipts"; to inform relatives of detainees and the
HRTF of arrests; to grant the HRTF access to places of detention at
any time; to record statements of detainees in a language of their
choice; and to take specific protective measures when arresting
children and women.

Thousands of Tamil people, including hundreds of prisoners of
conscience held solely on account of their ethnic origin, were
detained in the northeast and in Colombo. In many cases, the
security forces did not adhere to the directives, in particular the
requirement to issue "arrest receipts". The large majority of
those arrested were released within 48 hours, but others were held
for months without charge or trial. At the end of the year an
estimated 600 detainees were held under the Emergency Regulations
or Prevention of Terrorism Act.

There were reports of torture, including rape, particularly by
army personnel in the east. In January, three Tamil women were
reportedly raped by soldiers at Coomachcholai and Kayankaddu,
Batticaloa district, in reprisal for an attack by the LTTE on the
nearby army camp at Thampanamveli. Other reports were received of
rape, by the police in Amparai in May and by the army in
Trincomalee in August. There were also reports of torture of Tamil
political prisoners by the army in the east. Methods of torture
included electric shocks, hanging upside-down, applying chilli
powder to genitals and keeping prisoners blindfolded with rags
soaked in petrol. In Colombo members of the Special Task Force
(STF), the Criminal Investigation Department and the army were
alleged to be responsible for torturing Tamil prisoners.

Several people died in custody as a result of torture.
Ratnaweera Patabendige Dayananda died in January after he was taken
into custody by the police in Galle. He had three injuries to the
head caused by blunt weapons and multiple injuries all over his
body. The magistrate inquiring into his death ruled that the
injuries could not have been caused by a fall, as claimed by the
police.

At least 55 people "disappeared" after being arrested by
members of the security forces in the east and in Colombo. The
bodies of 31 people abducted in Colombo between late April and late
August were later found in lakes and rivers in the vicinity. Among
them was Vijendra Naresh Rajadurai who had been forced into a white
van at Wellawatte, Colombo, on his way home after work on 26 June.
His body and those of four others were found in Alawwa, some 60
kilometres to the northeast of Colombo, on 29 June. An official
investigation found evidence that the victims had been held
prisoner, tortured and then killed by strangulation or drowning.

An estimated 40 Tamil civilians were extrajudicially executed
in the east, particularly during May, June, July and November.
Some of the killings apparently took place in reprisal for attacks
by the LTTE on members of the security forces. Others occurred
during cordon-and-search operations. Members of the police, army,
STF and Muslim home guards, a civil defence force, were reported to
be responsible for the killings.

Three commissions of inquiry established in late 1994 to look
into human rights violations, in particular "disappearances" that
had occurred after 1 January 1988 (see Amnesty International Report
1995), began their work in January and within two months had
received information about 30,000 cases of "disappearance". The
Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Involuntary Removal of
Persons (PCIIRP), established in 1991 to investigate
"disappearances" reported after 11 January 1991, concluded its
investigations. Its final report, reportedly submitted to the
President in November, had not been made public by the end of the
year. A number of internal army and police inquiries were held
into reports of extrajudicial executions and "disappearances",
often resulting in the transfer of the alleged perpetrators. In
few cases was prosecution initiated. In late August, 18 members of
the security forces and seven civilians were arrested on suspicion
of being responsible for the "disappearance", torture and killing
of at least 21 people in Colombo in the preceding months.

Little progress was reported in the inquiries into the deaths
of people whose bodies were found during exhumations of a dozen
clandestine graves in 1994. In October the trial resumed of five
police officers charged with murdering 12 prisoners in Nittambuwa,
Gampaha district, in February 1990 (see Amnesty International
Reports 1991 and 1992). The trial of eight army personnel and a
school principal charged in connection with the "disappearance" of
a group of young people at Embilipitiya between late 1989 and early
1990 was postponed (see Amnesty International Report 1995). In
October the investigations into their "disappearance" were
reopened.

The LTTE was responsible for gross human rights abuses,
including attacks on Sinhalese civilians living in or near the
northeast. In May, for example, 42 villagers were deliberately
shot dead by LTTE forces at Kallarawa, north of Trincomalee, in the
east. Among those killed were at least 12 women and six children.
In a further eight attacks in October and November, more than 120
Sinhalese civilians were similarly killed. The LTTE also detained
scores of people suspected of providing information to government
forces, at least 30 of whom were "executed". Mahattaya, the former
deputy leader of the LTTE detained in 1993 (see Amnesty
International Report 1994), was reportedly "executed" in November.
There were reports of torture of prisoners, in at least two cases
resulting in death.

An Amnesty International delegation visited the country in
February and met President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga,
several members of the government, members of the commissions of
inquiry into past human rights violations and members of the PCIIRP
and HRTF. Amnesty International submitted a memorandum to the
government setting out measures to prevent grave human rights
violations. These included a review of security legislation and
the strengthening of constitutional and legal protection. Amnesty
International sought clarification of the mandate and working
methods of the commissions.

In April Amnesty International published a report, "Sri Lanka:
Time for truth and justice", setting out observations and
recommendations relating to the work of the commissions of inquiry.
After the resumption of the armed conflict, Amnesty International
expressed concern at reports of arbitrary arrests, "disappearances"
and extrajudicial executions. It called for the introduction of
human right safeguards, including the restoration of the HRTF's
powers to monitor the welfare of detainees. It also called for
full and impartial investigations into all reports of
"disappearances" and extrajudicial executions. In early June the
President responded giving assurances that several incidents of
extrajudicial executions reported in May were being investigated by
the security forces and that "if the circumstances warrant it
further action will be taken against those responsible". No
response had been received by the end of the year to a request for
information on the outcome of the investigations and any subsequent
action.

Amnesty International appealed to the LTTE for an immediate
halt to deliberate and arbitrary killings of civilians. It also
called for the release of prisoners of conscience and for the LTTE
to publish information on the whereabouts of those held by its
forces.

In September, amid reports of an escalation of the conflict in
the Jaffna peninsula, Amnesty International appealed to the
government and the LTTE to take all necessary measures to protect
civilians and those taking no active part in the fighting.